Achilles Tendinopathy and Rupture – Practical Prevention Strategies for the Crossfit Population

We recently released a podcast episode with Pat Byrnes going in depth about Achilles Tendinopathy and Rupture. If you missed it you can check it out HERE:

Here’s a list of the key points we discussed in the podcast. I also wanted to make a checklist of strategies for those of you out there looking to reduce your risk of Achilles problems. You could implement them directly into your own programming or into your client’s programming. Pat and I are currently working together to try and reduce the likelihood of injury at Crossfit Tribe and these are the methods we’re using.

I want people to understand that the health of our entire body, especially the Achilles Tendon is directly related to the way we train ourselves and our clients. Let’s do what we can to prevent these injuries before they side line us.

Before I start I want to let everyone know that this article is about preventing injuries before they occur. If you believe you’ve already got an issue with your Achilles tendon please go see a professional.

Achilles Tendon Rupture

Most Common in Men in their 40′s and 50′s. Keep in mind that it happens in younger people too (Pat did it in his 20′s)

Accounts for 40% of all surgical tendon repairs. (It’s very common)

5:1 ratio of injuries from male:female (Sorry guys)

Occurs mostly in individuals who are largely sedentary and then decide to start an activity without adequately conditioning their body. (Sounds like the weekend warriors to me)

A pronated (flat foot) foot decreases the Achilles’s ability to handle force and can lead to tendonitis. Pronation creates excessive rotary forces (not good) and tension to the medial side of the tendon.

Those with tendinosis typically have decreased calf flexibility.

Risk factors: Active Lifestyle, slightly under middle age, cortisone injection in the area

Where we see problems in Crossfit:

High rep box jumps

Double Unders (High Volume)

Running (Forces to the Achilles Tendon are 6-8 x body weight during certain phases of running)

Jumping exercises

Too much volume of these exercises overall or a period where the volume of these exercises is increased suddenly.

Solving the Problem:

Technique: We make sure our clients squat and deadlift properly which is definitely important but running and jumping should be taught as well. Its particularly important to make sure that you or your clients are landing from box jumps with solid biomechanics.

Proper programming: Adding in high rep box jumps out of nowhere in your programming is probably a bad idea. Remember a large cause of Achilles rupture is introducing a high stress stimulus when your body isn’t conditioned to it. (Remember the weekend warrior and pick-up games). The same thing goes for things like double unders and running. Keep your Achilles in mind when programming for the week/month.

Condition your Achilles: We try to regularly add in exercises into the warm-up throughout the week that help to condition the lower leg without overly fatiguing it (Remember that fatigue plays a role in Achilles rupture so we don’t want to overdo it in the warm-up). Things like running drills, jump rope, pogo jumps, agility ladder and frequency drills are fun additions to the warm-up that help prevent injury.

If you haven’t bought new shoes in some time, it may be time to. Get the correct shoes for your feet. For some discussion about what shoes are best for you check out this podcast episode.

Soft tissue work for the calves. We all know how to foam roll the calves. I really like this variation from Kelly. If you’re a thrill seeker you can even try that same bone saw technique while performing the plantar fascia stretch outlined above.

Prophylactic strengthening of the Calf. Heel raises and eccentric strengthening fit the bill here. Remember that 50% of ruptures had degeneration going on with a majority of the individuals having no symptoms before injury. Its safe to say that there are plenty of people in crossfit that have Achilles degeneration and are at risk but don’t know it.

If you have Achilles pain, avoid exercises that cause pain and seek a professional to help resolve the issue. Remember that 50% of all ruptures occur in those that have existing Achilles degeneration. If you’ve got pain it may be a sign there is some degeneration and you may be risking a rupture. (Rob and I outlined some rehabilitation strategies in the podcast but I highly recommend seeking a professional before self-treating)

Before we end this I want to say that I’m taking information from my own experience training myself and others coupled with what the research is showing to come to these conclusions. Its by no means a definitive guide but rather some sort of brainstorming as to how we can help prevent Achilles problems. If anyone one else has some ideas please share them in the comments below!

An Achilles Rupture would really sideline my dreams of becoming a professional dancer,

I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your
site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures.
Maybe you could space it out better?

You’re so interesting! I do not believe I have read a single thing like this before. So great to find another person with original thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is one thing that is needed on the web, someone with some originality!

Great read! I’ve had chronic achilles pain for over a year. I love CrossFit and have been at it for a few years. Been scaling, resting, etc. and seeing a Doc. Would love to get it resolved! Hopeful that I will soon! Thanks for writing this!

Thanks for the article. I did a 10 mile run in April with no running training other than very short distance stuff in CF. Good news is that my endurance was awesome from CF (I ran a faster sustained pace than I ever did when i was running 4x – 5x per week and doing long distance events) even though I hadn’t run in almost a year. Bad news is that because I hadn’t been running, I messed up my Achilles :-/ and it hasn’t been the same since (now mid November). I have really tried to take it easy, roll, stretch, no box jumps, no double unders, very minimal running, and it just won’t get better :-(. Planning to call up a PT today as I felt it tweak again this morning doing Snatches. Any suggestions? Questions I should ask the PT? Is a PT the right person to start with?